Friday, October 28, 2016

There's this great little shop on our west side that sells building materials and fixtures pulled from old construction. If you want old kitchen cabinets to put in your garage for storage, if you're looking for a mid-century formica table, or if you need a moth-eaten, horsehair stuffed velvet Victorian fainting couch, there's a good chance you'll find it there.

Guess who loves going there.

I'll give you three guesses.

Me, me, and ME.

It's where we found that terrific chandelier that we're so pleased about. We got our bathroom floor tile there. I got a complete socket wrench set for a dollar! And they always have some crazy thing that makes you tilt your head on one side and wonder where it came from, and where it'll end up -- like the twenty foot long marble bar from a hotel built in the 1890s. That thing was gorgeous. There was a note saying that a skunk had built a den in one of the cupboards at one time, which would explain the lingering aroma. It was only $500. I did a fair bit of covetous petting and cooing, but simply put, there's no place in our house that it would have fit, and of course we have no use for such a thing. It was pretty, though.

I've been poking around there, hoping a piano stool will show up that I can use with my treadle. No luck so far, but last week we did find something. And it was marked down a lot, which was a big treat.

We got a pretty waterfall-front cedar chest from the 1930s for only $25. Originally it was priced at $125, so we felt like we got a good deal.

Doesn't look like much, does it? But it's the perfect thing to put at the foot of our bed to hold spare sheets and blankets. Right now we're using a small wooden entryway bench that used to be our son's toybox. This is a nice upgrade. And it'll be even nicer once I've refinished it.

It wasn't until we were loading it into the car and the bottom suddenly slid halfway out that we realized that part is a drawer! You can just see the two holes where a handle used to be. I ran a scrap of leather thong through it as a temporary handle. We were hoping to find a treasure map or envelope of valuable stock certificates taped to the underside, but no such luck. Alas!

The veneer is pulling up but I'm sure a little wood glue and a warm iron will fix that.

I was worried there was damage to the top because it was all rough and scratched, but nope, just the finish crackling and flaking off. I did some scrubbing with refinisher and you can see a difference already. Left side cleaned, and right side old and icky. I have very bright lighting in my workshop, so all the warm wood tones are washed out in my pictures, but I hope you can see what I do -- this cheap little secondhand chest is going to clean up very nicely.

With the holidays coming up, I'm going be busy at work and a lot of my creative time is going to be spent working on super-secret gifts, so there may not be much to see here. I'll try to update as often as I can. Until then...

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

A month! It's been a month since I updated! Would it make you feel better if I said it was because I was so busy doing awesome things, and I had pretty pictures to show you? I thought so. Here we go.

First of all, Steamposium. We decided on a hunter/explorer theme for our outfits this year, and I'll admit there wasn't a lot of sewing involved with that; we mostly used clothing elements we already had, and I got two pith helmets at thrift. I made Dave a new cravat, though. I had the perfect scrap of fabric in my stash and he was very pleased with the result.

I needed a proper exploring skirt that would stand up to travel and hard wear, protecting me as I slashed my way through jungle trails and whatnot. Simple cotton duckcloth was the perfect stuff, and I was pleased to remember an old piece that I could rework. The original dress is kind of embarrassing now, but the fabric was spot-on and it's not like I was going to wear the lace-up canvas viking tent anywhere. All it took was cutting off the bodice area and making it the right skirt length. A simple waistband, belt loops, a few buttons (purely decorative) and kerblammers -- adventure skirt ahoy! I thought about putting some deep patch pockets on it, but then I'd load them up with things, and I'd look all lumpy.

I have pretty jewels!

Why is there a canary in a cage on my belt? I thought perhaps my traveler had a mistaken notion that birds could sense danger. Perhaps she had heard about birds being taken into mines (where they alerted workers of dangerous gas by, well, dying) but had not understood exactly what the birds did or why. I named my feathery companion "Caruso" and occasionally would lift his cage, peer at him closely, then announce "He's good. We're okay."

It would have been quite funny to have him wearing a tiny gas mask and with a sign tucked under his wing saying "You're fine!"

I know you're wondering about the blue wig, right? That... did not turn out well. Like, at all. No matter how many times I rinsed and rinsed, it still insisted on turning my forehead and hands blue when I put it on. I finally scrapped my idea for it and just did my hair in a kind of rolled ponytail tucked thingy. No pictures because it wasn't awesome and I didn't feel right about myself. I mean, I had a good time anyway, but next time I need to give myself more time for Plan B Hair, I guess.

But what had I planned to do with the blue wig? Well. I was thinking it could look sort of ocean-like, wavy and blue, right, and then I'd use a tiny wig I had to make an octopus to put on top like a bun.

I had the idea in my head, but I wasn't sure if it would work. Then I saw this picture online and was like Yes, I can do that!

So I took my little wig and dyed it fuschia, and a wooden spool seemed about right, with two buttons, to make octopus eyes.

The plan was going along just fine. It might not have looked exactly like the picture, thanks to my nascent hair styling skills, but it would have been all right, I think. But there was no dealing with the blue forehead and hands, not to mention it would probably transfer to my clothing and anything I leaned against (like Dave's shoulder) and oh, my neck and shoulders, too. Here's my start to an octopus, though. I've got his eyes set wrong, like a cat's. Oh well.

He looks kind of flat, compared to the inspiration picture. Well, this is how we create. Not everything works out.

So that was Steamposium and we had a great time and I ate too many gummi peach candies and Dave got invited to pose for a steampunk calendar and they'll be in touch. I was not invited to be in the calendar. I blame this on my lack of hairstyling skills and not having a fancy mustache like Dave does. So I guess I'm okay with that. Lip hair is just more hair to style, argh.

In other news, I finished -- or re-finished, as the case may be-- my treadle machine. The machine head is clean, and the cabinet is clean, with the old finish removed, and a new tung-oil finish rubbed in. She looks a treat!

I was going to replace the knobs, as two are missing the ring pulls and one doesn't match at all, but then I decided they were part of her history and needed to stay with her.

Shoot, I just looked at the time and I'm making myself late for work! I'll be back soon to tell you more about what I've been up to.